Roller-towel cabinet.



FA 0. HENDIHGK ROLLER TOWEL CABiNET.

AFPLlCATiON FILED APE. ll. 1916.

Patented Mar. 18, 1919 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1- WITNESSES W8 A TTURNB F. O. HENDRICK.

ROLLER TOWEL CABINET.

APPLICATION HLED APR. 11 1916. I 1,297,688. Paterited Mar. 18, 1919:,

2 sHEETS-SHEET 2.

WIN/E3858 STATES earner esmea.

roscoLo o. HENDRICK, OF EAST ORANGE, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR T0 PULLCLEAN MANUFACTURING 00., INCL, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.,.A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

ROLLER-TOWEL CABINET.

Application filed April 11, 1916. Serial No. 90,330.

To all whom it may concern .1

. Be it known thatI, FoscoLo O. HENoRIoK, citizen of the United States, and resident of East Orange, in the county 01"? Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and usefull Improvements in Roller- Towel Cabinets, of which the following is a specification. p

My invention relates to roller towel cabinets of the general type disclosed in Letters Patent No. 1,050,539, granted to me January .14, 1913, and has particular reference to a coin controlled mechanism forming part of such a cabinet for regulating the supply of toweling that may be withdrawn from the cabinet for use.

' The cabinet of my' aforesaid patent comprises a series of rollers, one of which is a su l -rollcr for carr in a roll of towelin P .V e e from which a clean supply or length of toweling may be drawn as required for use, and another of which is atake-up roller adapted to take up the soiled toweling at substantially the same rate as that at which the clean toweling is drawn from the sup ply-roller; this take 'up roller being operated by n'leanss of a third roller, termed an operating roller, which is rotated by the frictional engagement therewith of the toweling as the latter is drawn from the supply roller an-d which imparts such rotative movement to the take-up roller through suitable gearing.

My present invention has for its object to provide a simple and etlicient co=inton trolled mechanism for regulating the supply of toweling that may be drawn fl'OJIIl a cabinet of the type referred to. In accordancetherewith, I provide a mechanism for normally locking certain of the. towel engaging rollers and thereby the toweling, against feeding or deliverv movement, and which mechanism is rendered operative to'release the rollers and permit a feeding or delivery movement of ihe toweling only by the insertion of a coin at the proper point in the mechanism.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings Figure l is a sectional side elevation of a cabinet embodying my invention, the section being taken .vertically through the cabinet adjacent oneside-thereof.

Fig.2 is a similar view of part of the Specification of Letters Patent.

' Patented Mar. 118, 15919.

mechanism, showing a different position of certaln of the movable parts.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional detail showmg the passage of the coin through the ma chine and its cooperation with certain of the operating parts thereof.

Similar reference characters indicate like parts in the several figures of the drawings.

lhe several operating parts constituting my improved device may be .mounted upon a fran'ieor support of any suitable kind, and are contained within an inclosing casing or cabinet, such as indicated at The main frame or support for the operating parts comprises a pair of duplicate side brackets 3 (only one of which is here shown) connected by suitable tie-rods, such as 4. Supported at their opposite ends by these side brackets 3 are a series of rollers, the uppermost of which, indicated at 5, is the so called supply-roller carryin a roll of toweling, suc'h as if, from which the toweling is adapted to be drawn as required for use. From this roller 5 theton'eling, as indicated by the dot-aml-dash line, is passed forwardl over a guide roller (3, then backwardly to and about a roller 7, and from thence forwardly over a guide-rod 9 and on through an opening 5) in the. wall of the cabinet to a -glrideroller 10 at the t'ront side of the latter, from which it drops in a convenient position for use as shown.

A 'pair of rollers, indicated at 11 and 12, operate to engage therebetween the soiled end of the. toweling, which is led to them through an opening in the wall of the cabinet as shown, and take up the same at substantially the same rate as that at which the clean toweling is drawn from the supplyroller whereby a substantially constantleimih of toweling in leap form is maintained for use at the front or exterior side of the fabinet. Such operation of the takeup ro llers .11 and 12 is effected by means of the roller 7, termed by me the operating roller, which is rotated by the frictional engagement therewith of the towelii'ig as the latter is withdrawn from the supply-roller, and which imparts such rotative movement to, the'takep roller 11 through suitable motion-tmnsmitting means, such as the sprocket-chain connectiondiagrammatically indicated at 13. The rotative movement thus imparted to the take-up roller 11 causes it to cooperate with the opposing roller 12 and take up the soiled end of the toweling by drawing it therebetween. Vhen the soiled end of the toweling is thus taken up by the take-up roller, it may be deposited in ,the cabinet in any desired manner, that is,

after being drawn between the rollers it may be deposited loosely in the cabinet, or it may be wound directly upon one-of the take-up rollers. The latter is the preferable way and the way here shown. \Vhen the toweling is wound upon one of the take-up rollers, one of the latter should be yieldingly supported relative to the other in order to accon'imoda-te the increasing thickness of the toweling as it is wound on the roller. To provide for this, the roller 11 is carried at each end by a link 14 which is supported to turn about the axis of the roller 7 and connected at its lower end with a coiled spring i be avoided, certain of the rollers, particularly those indicated at 6, 7, and 11, are provided with a roughened surface, which may "be produced by covering them with sand paper.

Having now described the towel supplying and take-up means in sufficient detail for the purposes of my present invention, I will next describe the coin-controlled mechanism for regulating the operation of said means. This comprises a pinion gear 20 fixed to one end of the operating roller 7 aml meshing with a large gear wheel 21 which is mounted on a stationary bearing 22am provided with a pin or projection 23 for engagcment with a pivoted detent 24, as shown in Fig. 1, by which the said gears and com'iected roller 7 are locked against rotation in that direction permitting of the toweling being drawn off from the supply roller The detent 24 is mounted on a stationary bearing 25 and is provided with an extension 26 having notches 27 therein, one of which is adapted to be engaged by the end of the spring 23 for movably holding the detent in its normal locking position of engagement. with the pin 23 on the gear wheel 21, as shown in F ig. 1.

The means for moving the said detent from locking to releasing position, whereby to permit withdrawal from the cabinet of a predetern'iined' length of toweling.-co1'nprises a frame 29, here shown as formed of two plates secured together in spaced. relation by suitable fastening means, such as the screws 30, and attached to the cabinet casing by suitable fastening means, such as the screws 31. This frame is provided with a coin-receiving slot 32 opening at the front side of the cabinet and leading downwardly between two levers 33 and 34 which are pivoted between the oppositely located plates of the frame 25), at 35 and 36 respectively. The lever is of greater length than the lever 34 and extends above the frame 29 where it is connected through a link 37 with plunger 38 which is slidably mounted in a bearing with. its front end projecting beyond the front wall of the cabinet as shown. The lever 34 is connected by a pin 40 extending through a slot 41 in the wall of the frame 29, with the vertical arm 42 of a bell-crank lever which is mounted on the outer wall of the frame 29. to turn about the axis of the lever 34. The horizontal arm 43 of this bell-crank lever engages at its end with a trip lever 44, which is mounted on the bearing 25 supporting the detent 24 and provided with an arm carrying an adj ustable screw 45 for engagement with a lip 46 on the detent 24. A coiled spring 47 arranged with one end engaging the trip lever and its opposite end engaging a fixed part 48 of the frame, acts to yieldinglyxhold said trip lever in a normal position with an adjustable stop thereon, in the form of a screw 49, in contact with a stationary stop, here shown as the said frame part 48. 'In this position of the trip lever, the 'detent may assume its normal lockingposition as shown in Fig. 1.

\Vith the construction and arrangement of parts shown, the operation of effecting a release of the towel engaging rollers to permit of the withdrawal from the cabinet of a clean length of toweling is as follows: A coin of the proper size and denomination is inserted into the slot 32 and drops down between the lovers 33 and 34 until it comes to vers 33 and 34 about their axes as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 3, which movement of the lever 34 operates the connected bellcrank lever 4243 to cause it to depress the trip lever 44, which movement of the latter swings the detent 24 backward to releasing position, as shown in Fig. 2, where it is temporarily held by the engagement of the spring 28 in the lower of the notches 27. After such release of the towel pulling mechanism, the exposed length of towel may be pulled upon to withdraw from the cabinot a clean length of towel. This pulling of the towel will of course effect a rotation of the several rollers and connected gear wheels in the manner before described, and

memes after the gear wheel 21 has made a partial revolution. the detent pin 23 thereon will. engage an arm 51 ot' the pivoted detent lever 24 which extends across its path, as shown in Fig. and operate the same to return the detent to its normal position for engagement with the pin 23. A continued withdrawal of the towel may take place until the gear wheel 21 has made a complete revolution and its pin 23 has againbeen brought into locking engagement with the detent 24; whereupon the further withdrawal ot' the toweling is stopped.

\Vhen the levers 33 and 34 have been moved to the dotted line position shown in Fig. 3, they will have carried the coin laterally beyond the stop-wall to a point in line with an oft-set extension 52 of the coin slot 32, where it will be discharged from between the engaging levers and drop into a suitable receptacle (not shown) for receiving the same. Following such discharge of the coin and the release of the plunger 38, the latter and connecting lever 33 will be returned to their normal positions by suit-v able means, here shown as a spring 53 connecting at one end with a stationary part 54, and at its opposite end with the upper end of said lever. The lever 34 and conneeting bell-crank 4243 are also returned to their normal positions at the same time by suitable means, here shown as a spring 55 supported with one end engaging a stationary part 56 and its opposite end engaging the bell-crank at 57.

If the coin inserted into machine is too small to properly bridge the space between the two levers 33and 34, the lever-34 will not have a sufiicient movement imparted to it to shift the detent to releasing position, and consequently a delivery of the towel will not be permitted.

\Vhat I claim is z 1. In a roller towel cabinet, and in combination, a roller for engaging the towel and controlling its delivery from the cabinet,

a rotary member geared to said roller, a detent pin on said rotary member, a pivoted detent lever provided with an abutment for engagement with said detent pin to normally lock said roller against towel delivery movement, a trip lever movable relative to said detent lever and adapted when depressed to engage said detent lever and release the abutment thereon from said detent pin to permit rotation of the roller, and means for depressing said lever 2?. In a roller towel cabinet, and in combination, a roller for engaging the towel and controlling its delivery from the cabinet, a rotary member geared to said roller, a detent pin on said rotary member, a pivoted detent lever having an abutment for engagement with said detent pin to normally lock said roller against towel delivery movement, a trip lever separate from and pivoted eo-axially with said detent lever. means carried by the trip lever adapted when depressed to engage said detent lever, an arm on said detent lever adaptedto be engaged by said detent pin to return the detent lever to its normal position, means for depressing said trip lever. and means for returning said trip lever to normal position.

3. In a roller towel cabinet. and in combination, a roller tor engagingthe towel and controlling its delivery from the cabinet, a rotary member geared to said roller, a detent pin on said rotary member, a pivoted detent provided with an abutment forengagement with said detent pin for normally locking said roller against towel delivery movement, an arm carried by said detent lever adapted to be engaged by said detent pin upon rotation of said rotary member to return the detent lever to its normal position, an extension on said detent lever having a pair of notches in one of its edges, :1 spring having its free end adapted toen age in said notches, a trip 1- 'er separate rom. said detent lever 5 and aoapted when depressed to engage said detent lever to throw the abutment thereon away from said detent pin, and means for depressing said trip lever.

4. In a roller towel cabinet, and in combination, a roller for engaging the towel and controlling its delivery from the cabinet, a rotary membergeared to said roll-er, a detent pin on said rotary member, a pivoted detent lever provided with an abutment for engagement with the detent pin to normally lock said roller against towel delivery movement, an arm carried by said detent lever adapted to be engaged by said detent pin upon rotation of the rotary member to return the detent lever to its normal position, a trip lever pivoted co-axially with and movable relative to said. detent lever, an adjusting screw carried by said trip lever and adapted to engage said detentlever for releasing the abutment from said detent pin. a spring for normally returning said trip lever to normal position, and means for depressing said trip lever comprising two normally diseonnected members, means vea trip lever movable relative to and adapted to cooperate with said detent, a hell-crank lever having one end adapted to engage said trip lever, a pair oi normall disconnected levers for operating said trip device, a connection between the other arm of said crank lever and one of said last mentioned levers, a chute for guiding a coin between said disconnected levers whereby to operatively connect the same, a push rod for operating said levers when so connected to actuate the trip device, means for returning said disconnected levers {hid handle to normal position, and means operated from said roller when rotated by the delivery of the towel from the cabinet for restoring the detent to locking position.

Signed at New York in the county of New York and State of New York this sixth day of April A. D. 1916.

FOSCOLO O. HENDRIOK. Witnesses I CHAS. F, DANE, MARCEL MULET. 

